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萬物簡史:PART II CH 5敲石頭的人們(13)
萬物簡史
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 5敲石頭的人們(5)
不是在我們地球堅(jiān)實(shí)的物體內(nèi)部--那里找得到礦物或礦脈的特定物質(zhì)--的每條縫隙和每個(gè)斷層里。 不用說,聽眾里幾乎誰也不懂他在說些什么。朋友們鼓勵他把他的理論展開一下,希望他能在更大的篇幅里碰巧講得清楚一點(diǎn)。這是很感人的。赫頓花了此后的10年時(shí)間準(zhǔn)備他的巨著,并且于1795年以兩卷本出版。 這兩本書加起來有將近1000頁,寫得比他最悲觀的朋友擔(dān)心的還要糟糕,真是不可思議。此外,這部作品的內(nèi)容將近一半引自法國的資料,仍然以法文的形式出現(xiàn)。第三卷非常缺少吸引力,直到1899年才出版,那是在赫頓去世一個(gè)多世紀(jì)以后。第四卷即最后一卷根本沒有出版。赫頓的《地球論》很有資格當(dāng)選為讀者最少的重要科學(xué)著作(要是沒有大量別的這樣的書的話,那就可以這樣說)。連19世紀(jì)最偉大的地質(zhì)學(xué)家、什么書都看過的查爾斯?萊爾也承認(rèn),這本書他實(shí)在讀不下去。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 4事物的測定(26)
準(zhǔn)確估計(jì)數(shù)是59725億億噸,與卡文迪許的結(jié)果只相差1%左右。有意思的是,這一切都只是證實(shí)了在卡文迪許110年之前牛頓的估計(jì),而且沒有跡象表明牛頓做過任何試驗(yàn)。 無論如何,到18世紀(jì)末,科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)知道地球的確切形狀和大小,以及地球到太陽和各個(gè)行星的距離。連足不出戶的卡文迪許都已算出了它們的重量。于是,你或許會認(rèn)為,確定地球的年齡會是一件相對容易的事。畢竟,他們實(shí)際上已經(jīng)掌握一切必要的資料。然而,實(shí)際情形并非如此。人類要萬物等到能夠分裂原子、發(fā)明電視、尼龍和速溶咖啡以后,才算得出我們自己這顆行星的年齡。 若要知道其中的原因,我們必須北上去一趟蘇格蘭,先去拜訪一位杰出而又可親的人。這個(gè)人很少有人聽說過,他剛剛發(fā)明了一門新學(xué)科:地質(zhì)學(xué)。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 4事物的測定(23)
管你信不信,我反正相信了~~~ ?《萬物簡史》推出部落節(jié)目版,戳這里訂閱: 書本的朗讀語音很charming的磁性英音~~~大家可以好好學(xué)著模仿哦~~~??! 因?yàn)樵鵀槊绹怂鶎?單詞采用美式拼法,不抄全文,然后聽寫單詞或詞組(用[-No-]表示)以及句子(用[---No---]表示)。請邊聽寫邊理解文意,根據(jù)上下文注意各句標(biāo)號,這樣有助于提高正確率。 Hint: jolt agony quill Although he did sometimes venture into society—he was particularly devoted to the weekly scientific soirées of the great naturalist Sir Joseph Banks—it was always made clear to the other guests that Cavendish was [-1-] to be approached or even looked at. Those who sought his views were advised to wander into his vicinity as if by accident and to "talk as it were into [-2-] ." If their remarks were scientifically worthy they might receive a mumbled reply, but more often than not they would hear a peeved voice ([-3-] ) and turn to find an actual vacancy and the sight of Cavendish fleeing for a more peaceful corner. His wealth and solitary [-4-] allowed him to turn his house in Clapham into a large laboratory where he could range undisturbed through every corner of the physical sciences—electricity, heat, gravity, gases, anything to do with the composition of matter. [---5---] —gases and electricity in particular—and began seeing what they could do with them, often with more enthusiasm than sense. In America, Benjamin Franklin famously risked his life by flying a kite in an electrical storm. In France, a chemist named Pilatre de Rozier tested the flammability of hydrogen by gulping a [-6-] and blowing across an open flame, proving at a stroke that hydrogen is indeed [-7-] combustible and that eyebrows are not necessarily a permanent feature of one's face. [---8---] on no account vacancy his voice appears to have been high pitched inclinations The second half of the 18th century was a time when people of a scientific bent grew intensely interested in the physical properties of fundamental things mouthful explosively Cavendish, for his part, conducted experiments in which he subjected himself to graduated jolts of electrical current, diligently noting the increasing levels of agony until he could keep hold of his quill, and sometimes his consciousness, no longer. 有時(shí)候,他也大膽涉足社交界--尤其熱心于每周一次的由偉大的博物學(xué)家約瑟夫?班克斯舉辦的科學(xué)界聚會--但班克斯總是對別的客人講清楚,大家決不能靠近卡文迪許,甚至不能看他一眼。那些想要聽取他的意見的人被建議晃悠到他的附近,仿佛不是有意的,然后"只當(dāng)那里沒有人那樣說話"。如果他們的話算得上是在談?wù)摽茖W(xué),他們也許會得到一個(gè)含糊的回答,但更經(jīng)常的情形是聽到一聲怒氣沖沖的尖叫(他好像一直是尖聲尖氣的),轉(zhuǎn)過身來發(fā)現(xiàn)真的沒有人,只見卡文迪許飛也似的逃向一個(gè)比較安靜的角落。 卡文迪許錢又多,性格又孤僻,正好有條件把他在克拉彭的房子變成個(gè)大實(shí)驗(yàn)室,以便不受干擾地探索物理學(xué)的每個(gè)角落--電、熱、引力、氣體以及任何跟物質(zhì)的性質(zhì)有關(guān)的問題。18世紀(jì)末葉,是愛好科學(xué)的人們對基本物質(zhì)--尤其是氣體和電--的性質(zhì)發(fā)生濃厚興趣的時(shí)代,又是開始知道怎么對付它們的時(shí)代,但往往是熱情有余,理智不足。在美國,本杰明?富蘭克林不顧生命危險(xiǎn)在大雷雨里放風(fēng)箏,這是很有名的。在法國,一位名叫皮拉特爾?羅齊耶的化學(xué)家含了一口氫噴在明火上,以測試氫的可燃性,其結(jié)果是證明了氫確實(shí)是易爆物質(zhì),眉毛也不一定是人的臉上一個(gè)永久的特征??ㄎ牡显S也做了許多實(shí)驗(yàn),他曾經(jīng)逐步加大在自己身上的電擊強(qiáng)度,仔細(xì)體會逐漸厲害的痛苦,直到只拿得住手里的羽毛管,但有時(shí)候再也留不住自己的知覺。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 4事物的測定(11)
幾乎是一項(xiàng)雄心勃勃的工作--1度的長度只要算錯一點(diǎn)兒,整個(gè)長度就會相差許多公里--但實(shí)際上,就像諾伍德自豪地竭力聲稱的那樣,他的計(jì)算非常精確,相差"微乎其微"--說得更確切一點(diǎn),相差不到550米。以米制來表達(dá),他得出的數(shù)字是每度經(jīng)線的長度為110.72公里。 1637年,諾伍德一部在航海方萬物面的杰作《水手的實(shí)踐》出版,立即贏得一批讀者。它再版了17次,他去世25年以后仍在印刷。諾伍德攜家人回到了百慕大,成為一名成功的種植園主,空閑時(shí)間便以他心愛的三角學(xué)來消遣。他在那里活了38年。要是對大家說,他這38年過得很幸福,受到了人們的敬仰,大家一定會很高興。但是,實(shí)際上并非如此。在離開英格蘭以后的航行途中,他兩個(gè)年幼的兒子跟納撒尼爾?懷特牧師同住一個(gè)船艙,不知怎的讓這位年輕的牧師深受精神創(chuàng)傷,在他余生的許多時(shí)間里會想方設(shè)法來找諾伍德的麻煩。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 5敲石頭的人們(10)
生了興趣,然而,是在牛津大學(xué),在威廉?巴克蘭--身穿飄逸長袍的巴克蘭--的影響之下,萊爾才開始把畢生的精力獻(xiàn)給了地質(zhì)學(xué)。 巴克蘭多少是個(gè)有魅力的怪人。他作出過一些真正的成就,但人們至少也是因?yàn)樗墓制愿癫庞浀盟?。他尤其以養(yǎng)了一群野獸出名,其中有的很大,有的很危險(xiǎn)。他還以吃遍開天辟地以來有過的每一種動物聞名。他會以烘豚鼠、面糊耗子、烤刺猬或煮東南亞海參來招待家里的客人,這取決于他的一時(shí)沖動和是否有貨。巴克蘭覺得它們的味道都不錯,但菜園里的普通鼴鼠除外,他宣稱這種動物的味道是令人惡心的。他幾乎勢必成為糞便化石的權(quán)威,家里有一張桌子幾乎完全用收集來的這類標(biāo)本制成。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 4事物的測定(14)
件事被暫時(shí)擱置下來,30年后才在英國由皇家天文學(xué)家內(nèi)維爾?馬斯基林重新啟動。達(dá)娃?索貝爾在她的暢銷書《經(jīng)線》中,把馬斯基林說成是個(gè)傻瓜和壞蛋,不會欣賞鐘匠約翰?哈里森的卓越才華,這話也許沒錯兒。但是,我們要在她書里沒有提到的其他方面感激馬萬有引力常數(shù)G的值的機(jī)會~~~ ?《萬物簡史斯基林,尤其要感激他制定了稱地球質(zhì)量的成功方案。馬斯基林意識到,問題的關(guān)鍵在于找到一座形狀規(guī)則的山,能夠估測它的質(zhì)量。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 6勢不兩立的科學(xué)(10)
記下內(nèi)容,然后自己回頭組織語句,最后校對,不要逐字逐句聽寫) Hints: Sussex Mrs. Mantell rubble potholes It would be hard to think of a more [-1-] person in the history of paleontology than Mary Anning, but in fact there was one who came [-2-] close. His name was Gideon Algernon Mantell and he was a country doctor in Sussex. Mantell was a lanky assemblage of shortcomings—he was vain, self-absorbed, priggish, [-3-] —but never was there a more devoted amateur paleontologist. He was also lucky to have a devoted and observant wife. [---4---]—a curved brown stone, about the size of a small walnut. Knowing her husband's interest in fossils, and thinking it might be one, she took it to him. Mantell could see at once it was a [-5-] tooth, and after a little study became certain that it was from an animal that was herbivorous, reptilian, extremely large—tens of feet long—and from the Cretaceous period. [---6---] overlooked painfully neglectful of his family In 1822, while he was making a house call on a patient in rural Sussex, Mrs. Mantell went for a stroll down a nearby lane and in a pile of rubble that had been left to fill potholes she found a curious object fossilized He was right on all counts, but these were bold conclusions since nothing like it had been seen before or even imagined. 在古生物學(xué)史上,很難想得出還有誰比瑪麗?安寧更不受人重視,但實(shí)際上還有一個(gè)人的情況跟她差不多。他叫吉迪恩?阿爾杰農(nóng)?曼特爾,是蘇塞克斯的一名鄉(xiāng)村醫(yī)生。 曼特爾有一大堆不足之處--他虛榮心強(qiáng),只顧自己,自命不凡,不關(guān)心家庭--但再也找不出一名像他這樣投入的業(yè)余古生物學(xué)工作者。他還很有運(yùn)氣,有一位既忠心耿耿又留心觀察的太太。1822年,他去蘇塞克斯農(nóng)村出診的時(shí)候,曼特爾太太正順著附近的一條小路散步,在一堆用來填平路面凹坑的碎石里發(fā)現(xiàn)了一樣古怪的東西--一塊弧形的棕色骨頭,大約有小胡桃那么大小。她認(rèn)為那是一塊化石。她知道自己的丈夫?qū)芨信d趣,便拿給了他。曼特爾馬上看出,那是一顆牙齒的化石。稍加研究以后,他斷定,這是一顆動物牙齒,那種動物生活在白堊紀(jì),食草,爬行,體形龐大--有幾十米長。他的估測完全正確;但他的膽量也真夠大的,因?yàn)樵诖酥?,即使在想像中,誰也沒有見過這樣的東西。 這篇材料你能聽出多少?點(diǎn)擊這里做聽寫,提高外語水平>>
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萬物簡史:PART II CH 5敲石頭的人們(4)
新和隆起,創(chuàng)造了新的丘陵和新的大山,不停地如此循環(huán)。他認(rèn)為,山